Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh 5D's.
A/N: Your reviews got to me so I continued it because it was reasonably easy to continue. Expect even more pointlessness (because that's really what this story has going for it) and more Jack and Carly cuteness… or whatever it is they have.
In the kitchen Carly was managing to hold up well, or however well one does hold up while balancing a cookbook, a frying pan, a large carton of eggs and an orange in their hands. Jack almost regretted stepping into the situation, as the girl almost dropped the contents of what she was carrying, having some random spasm at Jack Atlas in the kitchen, attempting to help with whatever misguided track she was on. Really, the whisk in his hands must have pushed her over the edge.
"Jack, don't worry ahh- I can do it."
Worried? Well, he might call it worry when he's expecting the apartment to explode or at the very least food so terrible that even the demons in hell would throw it back.
"I'll watch." He simply stated.
It was entirely interesting to watch how Carly was going to make food without the simplest idea of what to do.
It was kind of like his situation and finding a livelihood of his own he might actually enjoy without ever having lived something of his own he actually, truly enjoyed.
Yes, it would be interesting.
He put the whisk down and sat at the table, eyes fixed on the energetic blur which was avoiding a cabinet avalanche.
He really wanted to step in at that moment, but something held him back. If Carly wanted to make dinner herself so bad, he wouldn't be the one ruin that for her. He always had that instinct, of knowing when to step in or when to simply watch from the sidelines. Sometimes watching from the sidelines hurt more than a punch to the ribs or the debris of a crumbling ceiling coming down on him.
As soon as Carly unearthed a large mixing bowl from the multitude of kitchenware, having successfully dodged the avalanche, which lay in a helpless pile on the counter and floor, she went to work on the food.
Jack usually found it easy to guess what kind of food was being made from the ingredients. Just like his opponent's Duel Monster's strategy, each ingredient or card was supposed to form some type of combination. It wasn't true with Carly's ingredients. The food: oranges, green onions, chicken, soysauce, peppers, ginger and a multitude of other disparate items were perhaps so haphazardly chosen that it was either the cryptic strategy of a master or the play of an unintelligible fool.
As unrefined as it was, Jack had to admit that the smell coming from whatever-it-was was pretty good.
The oil pop pop popped as the chicken and peppers sizzled. The ginger and onions made a mouth watering combination as they mixed their aromas together. Carly had become so focused, chopping each vegetable while keeping an eye on the stir fry, that even if Jack chose to strip down to his underwear she probably wouldn't have noticed it.
Not that he would.
He admired that kind of focus in a person. Just like when Yuusei started on his first D-Wheel, nothing could get to him with set his mind to it. It made Jack sort of envious, and not just because his once close friend was giving him the cold shoulder. He wanted to have that passion for something. He had discovered it in card games, had used it to take over Satellite with his buddies, but after that it had just sort of fizzled out.
Finding it again wasn't such an easy task. He still didn't think he had it, but seeing his monsters on the race track, their white hot light consuming the audience, his soul singing to the hum of the bike's engine, had been the closest thing to finding that part of himself again.
Now, if only he could find himself in something that wasn't an elaborate scheme to convince the people of Neo Domino that everything in life was just peachy keen and part of their population did not live in poverty at their expense.
When Carly had finally finished, half an hour of Jack sitting idly there later, a plateful of orange chicken was placed in front of him.
Carly admired her handiwork, which was a little more than edible; now that Jack had crunched on it, savoring its homemade taste complete with reasonably priced ingredients.
"Chinese food?"
"I missed having Chinese take-out." Carly admitted as she munched on her own serving. She took a swig of water with each bite, either because the chicken was still hot off the frying pan or because-
Jack grabbed Carly's glass of water and gulped it down so fast not even Carly was quite sure if had been Jack or if the water had just disappeared out of thin air.
"Maybe I should have gone a little easy on those peppers."
A/N: Let me know if there's anything that sounds wonky because I'm sort of out of it right now.